Autumn statement

[Thomasina79]

People should be aware that cutting the stage when people stop paying NI means they won’t be entitled to a full pension etc later on as they won’t have paid enough contributions.

Can you link to the bit of the statement that "cuts the stage people stop paying NI"?

Yes…link please

I sat through the whole thing, there wasn’t a cut to the top threshold and even if there was, as long as you pay what’s due you build up state pension. You don’t build up state pension if your earnings are below the minimum threshold and you don’t pay any NI.

AIUI there is a cohort of people who are treated as having paid NI for pension and other benefit purposes even though no actual payments are made.

There used to be relatively few in that group but since NI thresholds were aligned to those for tax it's now significant.

Interesting did not know so you
Still have to pay a certain amount
of NI to get SP ? Yet people on PB get it automatically ?

@Muddle2000 the whole interface between Income Tax (IT), National Insurance (NI) and State Benefits is a mess and full of inconsistencies. No country, starting with a clean sheet of paper, would come up with anything like it.

However, we are where we are. Any attempt at reform, for example merging IT with NI, would create multiple groups of noisy losers with hard cases all over the news. No political party with a sniff of a chance at power will go near it.

I don't understand what the abbreviation PB stands for. But, if one is not working and on Means Tested Benefits, Universal Credit these days, then you're credited with Class 3 contributions which count (only) for the State Pension. What else could the system do? If they've not enough NI for the full Pension then it'd be topped up to a 'decency' level by Pension Credit.

PB prescribed benefit What a mess along with the NHS etc